Gun carriages especially for anti-aircraft guns



- Filed June 21, 1962 April 28, 1964 L. BIRKIGT 3,130,639

GUN CARRIAGES ESPECIALLY FOR ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 fig].

| BlRKlGT 3,130,639

GUN CARRIAGES ESPECIALLY FOR ANTI-AIRCRAFT cums April 28, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 -Filed June 21, 1962 1.. 'BIRKIG'T 3,130,639 GUN CARRIAGES ESPECIALLY FOR ANTL-AIRCRAFT cums April 28, 1964 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 21, 1962.

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United States Patent Ofi ice 3,130,639 Patented Apr. 28,1964

3,130,639 GUN CARRIAGES ESPECIALLY FOR ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS Louis Birkigt, Pregny-Geneve, Switzerland, assignor to Brevets Aero-Mecaniques S.A., Geneva, Switzerland,

a society of Switzerland Filed June 21, 1962, Ser. No. 204,171 Claims priority, application Luxembourg June 24, 1961 7 Claims. (Cl. 89-40) The present invention relates to gun carriages comprising for their displacements on the ground, wheels which are replaced, when the gun has reached its firing emplacement, by jacks resting upon the ground, said wheels being then brought in inactive position, for instance, by lifting the wheels off the ground or by detaching said wheels from the carriage frame. The invention is more especially concerned with carriages for anti-aircraft guns to be mounted in groups on a gun carriage, the calibre of these guns ranging from 20 to 50 mm.

The object of this invention is to provide a gun carriage of this kind which is better adapted to meet the requirements of practice than those known up to this time, especially concerning the facility of control of the jacks.

According to the present invention, the gun carriage, which comprises at least three jacks for supporting the carriage frame is arranged so that said jacks are operated by means of a control device comprising elements having multiple positions and adapted to produce, according to the positions occupied by said elements, either the opera tion in one direction of any single jack or the operation in the same direction of the two other jacks, this direction being reversed at will.

'A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be hereafter described with reference to the appended drawings given merely by way of example and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a gun carriage made according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of the control device of the gun carriage;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating the electric lay-out of the control means.

' The frame of the gun carriage shown by FIGS. 1 and 2 is made in the form of an elongated box forming a support for a turret 2 on which are mounted the twin guns to be supported by the carriage. The front and rear ends of this frame 1 are supported, for road displacements, by detachable wheels (not shown). 7

The carriage is to be supported, for firing, by three Preferably, as shown by the drawing, one of these jacks is mounted at one end of frame 1, and the other jacks are mounted at the ends of two lateral arms 4 'disposed on either side of frame 1 and pivoted about vertical axes 5.

It has already been proposed to operate the jacks of gun carriages of this kind by means of motors, for instance hydraulic or electric motors, which receive energy from a source of energy mounted on a special vehicle.

In practice, once the gun carriage has been brought to its firing emplacement, the special vehicle should be driven away to a distance so as to hide it and it is then necessary to provide connecting lines between this vehicle, located at some distance, and the gun carriage to supply electric power from said vehicle to said carriage. This corresponds to a relatively long operation.

'The object of the present invention is to avoid this drawback.

For this purpose, there is provided, on the carriage itself, an independent source of electric energy capable of supplying with current the electric motors 6 which actuate jacks 3 respectively.

Preferably, the source of electric energy mounted on the gun carriage is an electric battery 7 housed in chambers or compartments provided in the frame 1 of the carriage.

Advantageously, the characteristics of battery 7 will be such that it can, without having to be recharged, permit several operations of the jacks, when the gun is brought into its firing emplacement.

In order to recharge this battery, it is preferable to make use of a group mounted on the carriage and comprising a motor 8 driving a generator 9.

Advantageously, in case of breakdown of this recharging unit, the carriage may be provided with a transformer 10 and a rectifier 11 which will be connected with an electric distribution network, when this is possible.

Concerning the jacks 3, each of which is operated by an electric motor 6, they are preferably of the telescopic type and operated in such manner that, when said motor 6 runs in one direction, the jack is expanded whereas, when the motor is running in the opposite direction, the jack is retracted.

Control of the electric motors 6 of the three jacks 3 is effected by means of a device mounted on a table 30 itself carried by the frame 1 of the carriage, as diagrammatically shown by FIGS. 3.

A control lever 31, somewhat similar to an aircraft joystick is pivotally mounted on table 30 so as to be capable of oscillating, on opposed sides of a central position, which is for instance its vertical position, in at least three planes intersecting one another, preferably at along a common vertical line passing through the pivot point of lever.

This lever 31 is connected with the motors 6 of jacks 3 through means, for instance of the electric type, as shown by the drawing, arranged in such manner that movement of lever 31 in any of the above mentioned planes, produces, when taking place on one side of said vertical line, the operation of the motor of a single jack in a given direction, and when taking place on the other side of said vertical line, the operation of the motors of the two other jacks in the same direction.

This lever 31 carries a switch device, for instance operated by push-piece 32 which makes it possible to choose at will, whatever be the position of lever 31 with respect to the vertical line, the above mentioned given direction of rotation of the motor, or motors, of the jack, or jacks, to be actuated when lever 31 is displaced from its neutral position.

Two independent control devices respectively operated by two push-pieces 33 and 34 are provided to produce, one of them simulutaneous expansion of the three jacks and the other one, a simultaneous retraction of the three jacks.

Furthermore, table 30 carries a water level 35, a main switch 36 and a switch 37 for connecting battery 7 with a recharging circuit as above referred to.

An embodiment of such an electric control device is diagrammatically shown by FIG. 4, this figure illustrating the portion of the device corresponding to one jack. This figure shows two charging systems, to wit the current generating plant SS'and an electric network 39, both of these systems being adapted to feed motor 8 serving to charge battery 7 through generator 9.

In the construction illustrated by FIG. 4, lever 31, pivoted with respect to table 30 about a fixed point 31a, is of tubular shape and the switching device operated by push-piece 32 comprises a rod 32a slidable axially in lever 31 and hinged at its lower end to an intermediate point of a lever 32b pivoted about an arm carried laterally by lever 31. This lever 31 is thus capable of ensuring, through a contact A, a connection between battery 7 and, according to the position of push-piece 32 either a power relay 40 or a power relay 41, both connected with electric motor 6. When the electric connection takes place 3 through relay 40, motor 6 runs in one direction corresponding to an expansion of the jack, whereas, when this connection takes place through the other relay 41, motor 6 runs in the opposed direction corresponding to a retraction of jack 6.

FIG. shows the electric lay-out for the three jacks. The respective motors of said jacks are respectively designated by reference characters 6a (for the front jack), 6g (for the left hand jack) and 6d (for the right hand jack) and, the elements already illustrated by FIG. 4 being designated on FIG. 5 by the same reference characters.

Reference charatcers Aas and Aar designate the two contacts controlled by lever 31 and relating to jack 6a, the corresponding contacts relating to jacks 6g and 6a being designated by reference characters Ags and Agr and Ads and Adr.

Reference numerals 40 and 41, with the same digits added thereto, designate the power relays corresponding to the jack motors 6a, 6g and 6d.

Reference numeral 42 designates a regulating device to ensure the correct charging of battery 7.

Reference numeral 43 designates a rectifier interposed between a transformer 44 adapted to be connected on the one hand to an electric network 39 and on the other hand to motor 8.

The operation of such an electric control device results from the above explanations and from the lay-outs of FIGS. 4 and 5.

In a general manner the above description has been given merely by way of example and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention as indicated in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A gun carriage which comprises, in combination, a frame, at least three jacks operatively connected with said frame for supporting it, at three different points thereof respectively, above the ground, three power means for operating said jacks, respectively, and a control device operatively connected with said three power means, said control device comprising a support, a single control member, said three power means being operative by said control member, said control member being adjustable to have at least three different kinds of displacement with respect to said support, each of said power means being arranged, to produce in response to movement in one direction of said control member for each of same kinds of displacement, respectively, an action of one single jack in one direction, and, in response to movement in the opposed direction of said control member for the same kind of displacement, an action of said two other jacks simultaneously in the same direction, the jack that is operated singly being different for each of the three kinds of displacement of said control member and switch means for reversing at will the direction of action of said jacks taking place in response to the movement of said control member for each of said kinds of displacement.

2. A gun carriage according to claim 1 further comprising supplementary control means connected with said power means to cause said power means to operate said three jacks simultaneously in the same direction.

3. A gun carriage which comprises, in combination, a frame, at least three jacks operatively connected with said frame for supporting it, at three different points thereof respectively, above the ground, three power means for operating said jacks respectively, each of said power means being reversible so that it is capable of either expanding or retracting the corresponding jack, reversing means for determining the direction in which each of said power means is operating the corresponding jack, a source of energy, and a control device for selectively connecting any of said three respective power means with said source of energy, said control device comprising a support, a lever pivotally mounted on said support about a pivot point so as to be movable in three different planes each corresponding to one of said jacks respectively, said planes intersecting one another along a common line passing through said pivot point and coinciding with the axis of said lever in neutral position, and cooperating means, on the one hand on said lever and on the other hand in each of said three planes, for connecting said source of energy with the power means of only one of said three jacks when said lever is pivoted in that of said planes corresponding to said last mentioned jack in one direction from its neutral position and for connecting said source of energy with both of the power means of the two other jacks when said lever is pivoted in said last mentioned plane in the opposed direction from its neutral position.

4. A gun carriage which comprises, in combination, a frame, at least three jacks operatively connected with said frame for supporting it, at three different points thereof respectively, above the ground, three pOWer means for operating said jacks respectively, each of said power means being reversible so that it is capable of either expanding or retracting the corresponding jack, reversing means for determining the direction in which each of said power means is operating the corresponding jack, a source of energy, and a control device for selectively connecting each of said three respective power means with said source of energy, said control device comprising a support, a lever pivotally mounted on said support about a pivot point so as to be movable in three different planes each corresponding to one of said planes respectively, said planes intersecting one another along a common line passing through said pivot point and coinciding with the axis of said lever in neutral position, cooperating means, on the one hand on said lever and on the other hand in each of said three planes, for connecting said source of energy with the power means of only one of said three jacks when said lever is pivoted in that of said planes corresponding to said last mentioned jack in one direction from its neutral position and for connecting said sourceof energy with both of the power means of the two other jacks when said lever is pivoted in said last mentioned plane in the opposed direction from its neutral position, and switch means carried by said control lever for operating said reversing means to permit of changing at will the direction in which said jacks are operated for said pivoting of said lever.

5. A gun carriage according to claim 4 wherein said power means are electric motors adapted to run either in one direction or in the opposed one.

6. A gun carriage according to claim 5 further comprising supplementary control means connected with said electric motors for causing the three electric motors to run in the same direction.

7. A gun carriage according to claim 5 further comprising a source of electrical energy carried by said frame for feeding current to said electric motors.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,549,835 McCann et al Apr. 24, 1951 

1. A GUN CARRIAGE WHICH COMPRISES, IN COMBINATION, A FRAME, AT LEAST THREE JACKS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH SAID FRAME FOR SUPPORTING IT, AT THREE DIFFERENT POINTS THEREOF RESPECTIVELY, ABOVE THE GROUND, THREE POWER MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID JACKS, RESPECTIVELY, AND A CONTROL DEVICE OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH SAID THREE POWER MEANS, SAID CONTROL DEVICE COMPRISING A SUPPORT, A SINGLE CONTROL MEMBER, SAID THREE POWER MEANS BEING OPERATIVE BY SAID CONTROL MEMBER, SAID CONTROL MEMBER BEING ADJUSTABLE TO HAVE AT LEAST THREE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISPLACEMENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID SUPPORT, EACH OF SAID POWER MEANS BEING ARRANGED, TO PRODUCE IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT IN ONE DIRECTION OF SAID CONTROL MEMBER FOR EACH OF SAME KINDS OF DISPLACEMENT, RESPECTIVELY, AN ACTION OF ONE SINGLE JACK IN ONE DIRECTION, AND, IN RESPONSE TO MOVEMENT IN THE OPPOSED DIRECTION OF SAID CONTROL MEMBER FOR THE SAME KIND OF DISPLACEMENT, AN ACTION OF SAID TWO OTHER JACKS SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE SAME DIRECTION, THE JACK THAT IS OPERATED SINGLY BEING DIFFERENT FOR EACH OF THE THREE KINDS OF DISPLACEMENT OF SAID CONTROL MEMBER AND SWITCH MEANS FOR REVERSING AT WILL THE DIRECTION OF ACTION OF SAID JACKS TAKING PLACE IN RESPONSE TO THE MOVEMENT OF SAID CONTROL MEMBER FOR EACH OF SAID KINDS OF DISPLACEMENT. 